The art of bussing

Even though we have lived in Vancouver for a year and a half now, certain things remain Canadian and exotic. One of the most iconic “things” being the school bus. This “thing” is not a common sight in the Netherlands. Kids only take buses to school if they need to go to specific educational institutions. I.e. either schools that are strongly religious or specialized in children with disabilities or educational problems. To us the school bus is quintessential Northern American. The yellow thing you see in Hollywood-coming-of-age-movies. It’s a thing we used to see only on television. BUT, since we moved here, the school bus is now also the big, yellow, growling thing that stops en leaves at 8.30 and 3.30.

Back home, my dad drives a yellow van. Not as big as a school bus…but a yellow bus nonetheless! So, the first month we lived here, Jura and Nori would cheer: “The yellow bus! It’s opa!!!” That soon wore off, though, as opa never got out of the bus.

However, ever since Jura got the news that she would be bussing to school, the anticipation for her first school bus trip rose with every time it stopped in front of our house. Only 55 more nights…and she would be riding it!

Last week, Jura was finally allowed to board the yellow busmarine. Unfortunately, it took only 3 days for us to realize that bussing is not in our DNA. And, if it is not in your DNA, you can try to bland in with the locals as much as you want…but you will fail…big time. Now before all of you get anxious, Jura is still with us!

The night before the big adventure, I consulted the near-unintelligible busschedule on the internet. Most confusing was the fact that TWO buses depart for Jura’s school from our busstop. One (Dominic’s bus) goes directly, one goes via the newly built Wesbrook village on campus. Jura needs to board the direct one. The first morning, we succeeded in getting her on the right bus. So far, so good. However, on the way back, she had boarded the other bus. Not a problem, because she arrived at our busstop just fine. Apparently, it does not matter which bus you board on the way back…or so we thought…

Thursday morning it was obviously a breeze for us experienced bus-parents to get Jura on Dominic’s bus. On Thursday afternoon, Nori, Eluin and I are getting ready to pick up big sister from the busstop. After picking her up, we need to go to the audiology centre, because all three of them are participating in a research project for new hearing aids. So, we take a little longer then planned and slightly stressed I was ushering Nori out the door, when the phone rang

“Hi, this is Acadia Road Elementary School, is this Jura’s mom?”

% insert severe heart-palpitations here %

“Yes, it is…”
“Well, Jura is here in the office with me, because she has not been picked up today”
“That’s right, she was supposed to take the bus home”

“Aaahhhhh…well, she didn’t, sorry about that. Could you come pick her up?”

After rushing to school, we found an exhilarated Jura in the principal’s office. She got to spend 20 whole minutes alone with her teacher, woohooo! Combining the teacher’s and Jura’s story, I now think this is what happened; Jura was in line for the bus. A little boy ahead of her in line, all of a sudden realized that he should not be on the bus. Of course lil’ Florence Nightingale decided to help the boy. The teacher who was supervising the bus line, asked a colleague to take the boy and Jura to the office. When I asked Jura why she had not told the teacher that she should be the bus, our little authority-lover said: “Well mom, if the teacher tells me to go with another teacher, then that’s what I’m going to do.”  

On Friday morning we had positively drilled Jura that she should take the bus in the morning and the afternoon. A little worried, we waved her off. On Friday afternoon, Dominic’s bus was the first to arrive…No Jura. I walked in the bus to see if she was there, but still…No Jura. So I asked Dominic where she could be. He walkie-talkied the driver of the other bus to find out where Jura was. I frown flickered across his brow, before he turned to me, all composed, and told me that Jura might have gotten off the bus at the new campus village. But they had never lost one so far! Some kids might have taken a little longer to get home, but they had never lost one. How very, very reassuring!

Truth be told, I was not feeling all that anxious at that moment. Not because I am coldhearted, but because I realized at that moment, that all I could do was wait. With Nori and Eluin in tow, it would take me a while to navigate to the other bus stop. Plus, there was still a pretty reasonable chance that she was on the second bus. Also, I relied quite heavily for my peace of mind on the instincts of the parents waiting at the other bus stop. I figured they would realize something was wrong when they saw my cute little buttercup, all forlornly at the curb…And, if that did not turn out to be the case, I prayed that Jura would one time use her lack of shyness to her advantage, rather then to my embarrassment…

…the Asian lady beside me, however, was losing it…big time! She kept asking if I knew where my girl was. And that made Nori realize that something was wrong. The next two buses to arrive were buses from the other school that kids from our campus go to. Nori got more and more distressed by the obvious lack of Jura. Finally the second bus from Jura’s school arrived. But after the last kid came out…still no Jura!

Okay, this was it. My patience and calm reached their end within 0.3 and I sprinted up the bus steps to see if she was really, well, not there. I look around and, lo and behold, there was our little smurf. Looking out the window, eyes on screensaver, completely oblivious of the fact that she was at her bus stop. I call out her name and wake her from her reverie. “Mom! What are you doing here?” she exclaims. Well, guess what honey, this is your bus stop, right in front of our house, and you need to get off!

I would like to say that everything quieted down in the second week. That we have got the hang of it now. Alas, today I heard Dominic is heading for Australia to visit family. And that they hope to have the same substitute driver, but that he could not guarantee it. Oh boy…